I love cheesecakes, so it surprised me when I realised that I had never made one here on Cakeyboi. I love them all, baked ones, no-bake cheesecakes, fruity ones – any at all.
My earliest memories of cheesecake were those boxed ones, which you made up very quickly. Melt the butter, mix it with the crushed biscuit provided in the box, press it into a cake tin and chill whilst you made up the filling. The filling was a non-descript sachet of white powder, which if I remember correctly you just added milk to. You beat this for a couple of minutes with a mixer and it turned a yellow colour, thicker in consistency.
The filling was then added to the chilled base and then chilled again. Then we (mum and I) usually devoured this for ‘afters’ on a Sunday teatime.
It was a bit of a running joke, but when my mom made up the base, as instructed on the packet, it always turned out brick-hard. Around that time, in the charts there was a song called ‘Solid’ by Ashford and Simpson. You may remember it, it went ‘solid as a rock, baby…’ so anytime mom or I have made cheesecake since, we always sing what we call ‘the cheesecake song’.
Anyway, I wanted to make something replicating that no-bake cheesecake from back in the day. I could have simply bought a box and made one up, but where would the fun be in that? So, here is the best I oculd come up with. (I added a wee bit of yellow food colouring to the filling as it just didn’t seem right looking natural!)
Also, in lieu of Easter which is here in a few weeks, I added some of those mini-Mini Eggs AKA Micro Eggs. I thought the colours worked well in the cheesecake and added a little extra ‘bite’. This also heralds a few Easter bakes which I will be sharing over the next couple of weeks…
No-Bake Cheesecake with Micro Eggsby Cakeyboi March-27-2014Ingredients
- 150 grams digestive biscuits
- 100 grams dark brown sugar
- 75 grams unsalted butter
- 500 grams full-fat cream cheese
- 100 grams icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or extract)
- 200 ml double cream
- 200 grams micro eggs (optional)
In a large bowl add the crushed biscuits, sugar and melted butter. Mix together fully and then transfer to the lined tin. Press this down firmly and don't go up the sides of the tin. Chill this in the fridge until set. About half an hour.
In a separate bowl, mix together the icing sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Lightly whip the double cream until soft peaks hold and then fold into the cream cheese mix. Stir through the vanilla bean paste and lastly fold in 150 grams of the micro eggs if using. Dollop this mix on top of the biscuit base and smooth over. Place into the fridge to set, about 1 hour.
Lastly stud the top of the cheesecake with the remaining micro eggs. Carefully remove from the tin using the greaseproof paper and slice into squares. Enjoy!
DetailsPrep time: 30 mins Cook time: 1 hour 30 mins Total time: 2 hour Yield: 1 8"x8" cheesecake
